Roadway Design Question and Answer Forum
Plotting
Question:
When creating PDF plan sheets from iPlot Organizer, why are the borders cut off? Is there a fix for this?
Answer:
When creating PDF plan sheets, the two main reasons why borders are cutoff are:
1. The plot area is not centered according to paper limits.
2. The plot area shape, fence, or the plot size is not set to the plotter maximum limits.
Roadway CADD Support recommends two ways to fix this situation. The short term temporary fix for now and the long term
permanent fix.
Short Term Fix - Center Plot Area
1. Make a copy of the IPS file.
2. In this copy IPS file, select all plot files.
3. Under the Layout tab found under the plot Properties window, change Rotation Angle to "0" (zero) and click on "Center"
button found inside the Origin frame.
4. Lastly, click the "OK" button. This will automatically update all plot files correctly for PDF plan sheets creation.
*** WARNING ***
DO NOT PLOT THESE PLOT FILES TO A PLOTTER! The only purpose for this IPS file is for creating PDF plan sheets.
If you used this IPS file to plot to a plotter, then the borders will still be cutoff on the paper hard copy.
Long Term Fix - Maximize Plot Area Shapes and Center the Sheet Borders
This does not require any user's manual inputs. RCS support will work with NCDOT CADD Services in getting this done. All
sheet cells are stored under the NCDOT workspace, not Roadway's. This is the reason for the coordination.
Basically by maximizing plot area shapes to a particular plotter maximum limits and centering the sheet borders with respect to
these plot area shapes, the end result is all plot files are automatically created correctly for these parameters.
Sheet Borders Centered (Top and Bottom Only) with Maximized Plot Area
Plot Origin True Origin (0,0)
Plot Scale Default to Closest Desired Scale
Desired Automation Result
